1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape support, and more particularly to a tape support for an automatic wrapper. The tape support can be easily made and assembled.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, a conventional tape support for an automatic wrapper in accordance with the prior art comprises a U-shaped main frame (60), a protective plate set (70) and a blade assembly (80). The U-shaped main frame (60) is mounted on the automatic wrapper. Four arcuate internal corners form a smooth internal edge on the frame (60). The protective plate set (70) is attached to one side of the main frame (60). The protective plate set (70) includes two main corner plates (71) which are L-shaped and three straight plates (72). the corner plates (71) are attached to the corners opposite from the automatic wrapper. The three straight plates (72) are connected to the corner plates (71) to be U-shaped and correspond to the main frame (60). The blade assembly (80) is pivotally mounted on the side of the main frame (60) opposite to the protective plates (70). The blade assembly (80) includes multiple curved blades (81) and straight blades (82). The curved blades (81) are mounted on each corner of the main frame (60) and the straight blades (82) are connected to the main curved blades (81) to form a U-shape and correspond to the main frame (60). Each of the blades (81, 82) has an L-shaped cross section. One side of the blades (81, 82) is parallel to the internal edge of the main frame (60) and the other side of the blades (81, 82) is parallel to the protective plate set (70) to form a path through which tape passes.
Each of the blades has a return spring (84) mounted thereon. The blades will open due to the pulling force of the tape when the wrapper pulls the tape. Then the tape will escape from the blades along the inclined side of the blades to wrap the object on the automatic wrapper.
The conventional tape support of an automatic wrapper as described has several disadvantages that need to be mitigated and/or obviated.
1. The structure of the conventional tape support is complicated. The conventional tape support needs many plates and blades to form the path through which tape is allowed to pass. The shapes of all the plates and blades are not the same as one another so the cost of molding and logistics is high.
2. It is hard to assembly. The plates and blades must be mounted one after one. Furthermore, each of the blades needs a pin on which the return spring is mounted. Such an assembly will waste a lot of time and money.
3. The path of the tape is not very steady during wrapping. The blades are opened from one side when the automatic wrapper pulls the tape. The tape escapes from a free end of the blades. The tape is easily inclined toward the free end of the blades because there is no adjustment assembly to adjust the tape after the tape escapes from the blades and before wrapping.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional tape support of an automatic wrapper.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a U-shaped tape support for an automatic wrapper includes a main frame and an internal frame. The internal frame is keyed on the main frame and forms four corners each having a corner block. The corners are keyed onto the corner blocks. A guide blade assembly is pivotally keyed on two vertical sides of the main frame, and an adjustment assembly is keyed on two vertical sides of the main frame. The elements of the main frame, the internal frame, the blade assembly and the adjustment assembly are made by injection molding or extruding. Each corner block has three sides, one being concave and the others forming an exterior right angle. The corner block connects the horizontal support and the vertical support of the internal frame to form a smooth internal edge. The guide blades in each assembly face each other and wraps around the internal frame. A path is formed between the internal frame and the guide blade assembly through which the tape passes. Arms of the adjustment assembly face each other and wraps around the guide blade assembly. A brush is mounted on the free end of the adjustment assembly to guide the tape to the middle by its retaining force when the tape passes through the brush.
Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.